If You guys end up freeing up I might move. Then we can finally have a beer together

Can I do this to? Can we all just a have a big 'Fuck off Banks and other bullshit' party? Drinking age is like 18 over there isn't it? I'm technically legal everywhere that's not America I think.

Also since no one's posting pictures here's a picture to stay on topic.

Took it with a pinhole camera that I made years ago. Things probably been recycled or something now, god it was such a piece of shit. There's a picture of the thing on page 17, and this picture I posted on page 15 with its negative. Looking back sucks, so much cringe.

@Archie:They have been doing that for years. In the last decade or so, whenever i get a new PC/OS or after a fresh reinstall, it's becoming a habbit that the first thing i do is to install virus/firewall/malware protection and immediately after i copy-paste a blacklist with websites into the filters wherever i can, from browser to addons and plugins like adblock.BBC and CNN are almost atop of my list.

If you want a few good laughs from the eastern mass media, i suggest to take at RT.com. They're from Russia...

I wholeheartedly agree with this, and I am a firm believer that it matters not what country a certain land belongs to as long as I (or anyone) can visit any time I (they) want. Yes, I feel this way about many territories including many currently under dispute.

It does however matter to me that it matters to Archie. He exposes more than valid reasons to support the independence of Scotland. Since I can't but agree, I support it too. I can't wait to know the results.

So yeah. From tuesday I started living at the school dorm (is this right? This is the first word ever, that I needed get using Google Translate). I must say that the view from my room is just excellent.

The living room and kitchen are still WIP, but I think I've more or less finished moving into my bedroom. Having the balcony is freaking awesome. Just being able to get out of bed and take in the morning air is glorious.

Ha, she'll love that you picked up on the nail polish. She was so pleased with it!And yeah, I'm punching well above my weight with this one

Striker, it's Scotland in December. It was completely freezing!Love that mirror shot - when I first saw the thumbnail on my phone I thought it was a perfectly frozen raindrop or something. You're getting really good results from a phone.

Congrats Archie! I'm sure she's just as lovely as she looks. Fantastic shots.And to follow suit with TJB, Here's a few phone shots I took and cropped / edited on my phone. (Phone: LG Nexus 5. Software: Snapseed)Bronx Zoo - New YorkMonster of the Deep

Definitely. Remote shutter on a 2 second delay, with mirror lockup. Even without a remote shutter, the other two should improve everything a lot. And make sure to set manual focus on infinity so that the camera doesn't change it.

Noone can refuse this. We're also expecting some good looking neighbour having a shower or something

(yeah I know, most likely she won't be in the shower with the window open at this time of the year...)

If the sky is clear enough when it's in the right position I might see if I can take a photo of the Orion nebula, as I've finally (after having it for a year) managed to set the automatic tracking to just the right speed, which should make long exposure shots possible.

Photographing the Orion nebula was a hell of a lot harder than I had thought it would be. First of all, it's really diffuse, so with the tiny viewfinder on the camera it's very difficult to tell if it's in focus. Second of all, it's really dim, so long exposure shots are needed. I was outside for an hour and a half trying to take a good photo but they all came out either too dim, or too streaked. I eventually decided to leave it for another time, as my fingers were so numb from the cold I could barely operate the camera.

Anyway, here's the best of what I managed to take:

This one you can actually see a bit of the nebula, but the tracking mount wasn't on so the streaking you can see is from both the rotation of the earth over the exposure time, and the telescope moving from me pressing the shutter button.

Here's the sharpest image I could get:

The stars are fairly well focussed, but the exposure was too short so the nebula itself is only very slightly visible, even after some extreme editing.

Also, just after I decided to go in I noticed Jupiter was visible, so I took this:

Three of the moons are visible in the photo, but looking through the telescope it without the camera I could see four quite clearly. I was being lazy with that photo, I just took as many as I could in about a minute and picked the best.

We had an incredible winter fog the other day, so I grabbed my camera, my tripod and my best mate and headed to a loch to take some snaps. Really awe inspiring views, I hope the photos captured some of the magic!

Also, just whilst the topic of remote controls is prominent, it's quite neat to note that the photos with me in them were taken by using my phone as the shutter release. You can see it in my hand in every one TECHNOLOGY!

When I started making photos, I believe in 2010 when I got my first camera, dedicated camera equipment was still miles away from what you could find integrated in mobile phones. But now, there are pocket cameras that arguably perform worse than a camera on an S3 phone, which is 3 years old already. Even if their performance is marginally better, their price and practicability doesn't justify buying them. Bridge cameras, the kind that I have, unfortunately use the same shitty small sensor so they only compensate through more professional features and better lenses, better zoom.So the only kind of camera used for what you could call "Photography" is the DSLR. Even here prices, the simplification of them and introduction of lots of "autos" has made them accessible to a large public.

Photography isn't what it used to be. 50 years ago photography was truly an art and you'd get respect for doing that. Now anyone can be a photographer. You just need some money, and a one month crash course, or even less. Heck, you only need a good phone.

The only thing that, I think, separates amateurs from professionals is experience and dedication. I no longer consider myself a photographer as I used to in high-school. I am also appalled by the fact that anyone can make a mindless photo and call it photography, and that could apply to me too when I don't know so...

Or perhaps I'm just confused about this art where nobody makes the slightest effort anymore.

Don't get me wrong, this is just some rant. I still see magnificent photos, and on this thread too. I just consider true photography an exquisite art suited for the adventurous, the enduring and the risk-takers. Qualities that not all photographers have, especially zillion wedding&events photographers(but that's business, not art...).